World Cup 2014: Belgium’s qualification for Brazil finals has yet to benefit its top-flight – the Belgian Pro League

If wealthy clubs from across Europe continue to plunder the Pro League then
the Red Devils’s qualification for the World Cup finals may be the only
thing to cheer for some time for Belgian football fans

Belgian fans and many neutrals want the Red Devils do well in Brazil. It’s a tasty squad and the publicity is being ramped up. Sadly, Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League is not benefiting from this exposure. To make it worse, Premier League clubs trawl the Belgian clubs’ academies for the most talented youngsters.

Belgian players have often emigrated – a third of the current international squad have never played first division football in their home country. Eden Hazard, for example, was despatched to France at an early age, while others, like Thomas Vermaelen, left Belgium for the Dutch leagues in the mid-noughties. Some, like Vincent Kompany, stuck around and helped their clubs win trophies.

But now, due to Belgian football being on the map, it’s that much harder to keep the highly-rated youngsters. Anderlecht lost three of their best players before they’d been able to sign a professional contract: Charly Musonda Junior to Chelsea, Adnan Januzaj to Manchester United and Mathias Bossaerts to Manchester City.

If players do make their name in Belgium, it can mean serious money for the clubs: Standard Liège sold Marouane Fellaini to Everton for €19 million, while the combined deals for Thibaut Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne put a similar amount in Genk’s bank account. That kind of money is vital as budgets are relatively minuscule; Zulte Waregem reached the Champions League qualifying rounds last year on an annual budget of €10m.

Bob Browaeys, coach of the Belgian U16s, says that although the Belgian league has become a transit competition, there are advantages as young players get experience earlier in their careers. Chris Van Puyvelde, the Pro League’s technical advisor, agrees and says clubs have chosen to invest in youth rather than bring in third-rate players from other countries.

Young players have broken through while still in their teens – Dennis Praet at Anderlecht, Michy Batshuayi at Standard Liège and Siebe Schrijvers at Genk – but clubs need a balance of experienced players and talented youngsters; that takes time and patience on all sides.

Players’ parents often impact decisions. Some, like Kompany’s, insisted that their son gave equal priority to his education before leaving Belgium. Others, like those of Musonda and Januzaj, decided it was worthwhile to uproot the whole family and move abroad.

Musonda Junior was the shining star in the Anderlecht academy, but rather than stay and let him make his name in Belgium, his family moved with him, and his brothers, to Chelsea when he was 15. That was in sharp contrast to the route chosen by another talented Anderlecht youth player, and his advisors, Youri Tielemans. Just 16, he has signed a professional contract and is already a regular in Anderlecht’s midfield.

It’s hard to say which route is the correct one but if the wealthy clubs continue to plunder the Belgian clubs’ academies, the losers will be the clubs themselves, the local fans and possibly the players who get lost in the over-stocked pools of talent in the game’s richest clubs.